Joe and Betsy

I bought this kit a long time ago to bring on vacation with us. Little did I know that it would look so much like the place we stayed at.

And I should have realized that a Paint by Number of this size and detail would be quite a challenge!

Tiny paints, tiny brush, tiny details!

There was only one brush so we traded off, straining our necks and eyes to paint the tiny areas.

We didn’t really make a whole lot of progress so we decided that this activity will be saved for rainy and snowed in days. It’s relaxing but will take forever to complete! If we ever do, I’ll let you know.

We also hiked the 2.5 miles around Moss Lake, a new lake for us. If you don’t know the Adirondacks there’s tons and tons of lakes up there, both big and small. Moss Lake is a small lake near the one we stayed on, Big Moose Lake.

It took about an hour for us to make it around the lake and it was a great little hike. The views of the lake were beautiful, here’s the one we saw at the end…

See you soon!

Before we left for our ADK vacation we had planned out a bunch of new activities to tackle during our time there. The one I’m going to share today was a perfect vacation activity. It was messy and took over 24 hours to complete, which was fine by us.

Although we planned on doing tie dye we didn’t exactly pack a supply of clothes appropriate for the activity. Instead we had to dig through our bags and ask family members to donate articles to dye. We ended up with a random assortment of white and gray pieces, unsure of how they’d turn out.

The first step was to soak and tie, (aka rubber band) our pieces. We tried a bunch of different techniques with the rubber bands, hoping for some cool effects.

After they were bundled up they soaked again in a water + soda ash mixture to prepare them for the upcoming dyes.

After a half hour of soaking they were ready. We didn’t really know what we were doing but we went for it.

Once each piece was sufficiently saturated with color they were wrapped up in plastic bags and set aside for 24 hours so the dye and fabric could “bond.”

The next day they got a rinse and a ride in the washer and dryer. Before we knew it they were all done, and they were beautiful!

Five pieces in all, none of them a total flop! Here they all are, my two pieces of clothing are hanging and Joe and his Dad are modeling theirs.

We had a lot of fun with this one.

I’ll share some more vacation activities soon!

Time to chime in with a brief update.

We went on vacation for a week in Adirondacks, our 4th year in a row. It was wonderful.

Yesterday I turned 25 and joined the quarter century club. Whoa.

No time for a full post as we’re gearing up for back to work, school, the start of fall, etc…

See you soon!

Just a quick post… last night was my sister’s birthday so we took her out for dinner at Legume in Regent Square. It came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. It was one of the best meals we’ve ever had in Pittsburgh.

It was simple, local food done extremely well. Everything was amazing, from the warm, soft bread at the start to the flourless chocolate cake with fresh whipped cream at the end!

We’re looking more alike than ever now that I stole her hair color.

Earlier in the day Joe gifted Em with a gaggle of birthday balloons. A certain little orange guy tried to claim them as his own, however.

Oh, Sonny. Whatever he does we can trace back to Emily, though. She picked him out for us from the SPCA a little over three years ago.

Em was born 10 days before my 4th birthday, back in day, totally trying to steal my thunder. I’ve since forgiven her. Happy Birthday to my baby sis!